Drury's head swimming & diving coach Brian Reynolds is "stepping back" from his regular duties until the school develops a new anti-hazing policy, according to a report from local ABC affiliate KSPR33. Stock photo via Drury Athletics

The move was announced this week after a Reynolds and Drury were implicated in widely-reported hazing allegations. Former Drury swimmer Evan Petrich posted on Facebook and talked to media earlier this month, claiming that he was a victim of hazing by upperclassmen on the team that left him with Conversion Disorder and PTSD that he says effectively ended his swimming career.

Petrich, who was a freshman at Drury in the fall of 2015, wrote this about the alleged hazing activities:

I do not know if I can ever forget the events and activities that I was forced to participate in. Having dodgeballs thrown at my exposed bottom, or being terrified in a cold, dark basement corner surrounded by my drunk classmates who had covered the floor with throw up and urine while punching holes in the wall and ceiling. All I had to protect me was the diaper and shoes that the upper classmen were gracious enough to allow us to keep on. This event is in past. The violent chest rub, the swallowing of a live goldfish while we wore hoods is all in the past. There is nothing that I can do about that horrific event that ended my swimming career.

Petrich also says he reported the hazing to Coach Reynolds, but the Reynolds didn’t address the situation.

The school announced Monday that Reynolds would be “stepping back from his day-to-day duties” until the school develops a new anti-hazing framework that could be used nationally. The Springfield News-Leader reports that Reynolds will help head up a “blue ribbon coalition” that will create a national model for combating hazing.

The KSPR report says there isn’t a time-table for when he’ll return to his regular coaching duties with the Drury swim & dive teams.

There is no room for this childish and stupid crap. I can tell you what policy would be effective. While the coach has some responsibility, the real onus is, and should be, on the athletes. These are not children; they’re legal adults. So the policy is simple; any athlete caught hazing gets instant and permanent discharge from the school. So they would have to risk ruining their own lives in order to ruin someone else’s. And if the NCAA wants to man up and do something about this issue, they could tack on immediate forfeiture of any future eligibility. See if they think that is funny…

A shame if this is the end of a great coaching career. If teams do not learn from this we will have more of these situations in the future. The line between team bonding and hazing is more and more blurred everyday.

Vote Up10-3Vote Down Reply

10 months 19 days ago

About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson just can’t stay away from the pool. A competitive career of almost two decades wasn’t enough for this Minnesotan, who continues to get his daily chlorine fix. A lifelong lover of writing, Jared now combines the two passions as Senior Reporter for SwimSwam.com, covering swimming at every level.
He’s an …